The present invention relates to a lens-fitted photographic film package and a method of making the same, and more particularly to a photographic film package in which a photographic film, a taking lens and an exposure member, with their associated elements, are incorporated in a light-tight film casing as a unit, and a method of making the same.
A lens-fitted photographic film package can provide many opportunities for enjoyment by readily taking pictures even when with no camera. This lens-fitted photographic film package comprises a film casing fitted with a taking lens, a simple exposure mechanism which includes a film winding mechanism and a shutter mechanism with their associated elements incorporated in the film casing, and a 110-size cartridge film previously packaged in the film casing, which can be sold wherever photographic film is sold. The lens-fitted photographic film, after the exposure of all frames of the film, is forwarded to a photo shop or photo laboratory without removing the film. There, the film package is opened and the exposed film is developed to make prints therefrom while the film package without the film is scrapped. The prints, together with the developed film, are returned to the customer. Such a lens-fitted single-use film package makes it easy to take pictures because there is no need for film loading and unloading.
As is well known in the art, the 110-size film cartridge has a roll of 110-size film strip contained light-tightly therein. The film package can be assembled by fitting the film cartridge to an exposure chamber formed inside the lens-fitted film casing. Due to the incorporation of cartridge film, not only the assembly of the film package but also the removal of the film cartridge from the film package can take place in daylight without fogging the film in the cartridge.
However, it is hard to make an enlarged print with a favorable image quality from the 110-size film. For better image quality, it has been proposed to provide a lens-fitted film package including a 135-size roll film whose image size is 36.times.24 mm. By incorporating the 135-size roll film contained in a film patrone defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO code 1007: 1979 edition) in such a lens-fitted film package, the existing film processing systems can be utilized in their entireties for the lens-fitted film packages.
Such a 135-size lens-fitted film package is, however, quite hard to be manufactured in a practical form because the film patrone has a single film chamber, in contrast to the 110-size film cartridge which has double film chambers.
A serious problem attending such a lens-fitted film package containing a 135-size film in a patrone is that the exposed film will have to be removed from the lens-fitted film package in a dark room because the film is withdrawn from the patrone one frame every exposure and, after the exposure of all frames of the film, completely withdrawn from the patrone. As is well known, such a dark room film handing is quite troublesome when a large number of films is to be processed at once.
If the film package is adapted to rewind the fully exposed film, and the fully withdrawn film is rewound into the patrone, the film can be removed from the film package in daylight. However, rewinding the exposed film into the patrone requires the provision of a film rewinding mechanism which is attended with an increase in manufacturing cost. Moreover, it is necessary in the photo laboratory to rewind the exposed film before removing it from the film package. In view of such film handling, the film package containing the 135-size film, although possible to be handled in a daylight room, decreases handling efficiency.